Original article (in Bosnian) was published on 2/7/2025; Author: Marija Ćosić
Footage of a destroyed airport is being shared on social media with false claims that it shows devastation at Ben Gurion Airport as a result of an Iranian attack.
On June 16, 2025, a collage of images allegedly showing destroyed buildings and airplanes at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel was posted on Facebook. The description stated, among other things:
The famous Ben Gurion has turned into a classic horror dump of NATO’s most elite aircraft, where the terrifying scene is completed by airport facilities reduced to dust and ashes!
So much for the “Iron Dome” and the comprehensive support of the collective West!
THE BILL HAS COME DUE!
AND THE IRANIANS CLAIM THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING. IN ANY CASE, IT WILL BE FIERY AND VERY INTERESTING!
The collage was also posted the same day, June 16, with the same description on other Facebook and Instagram profiles (1, 2).
What are the Facts?
The images in the collage do not show a destroyed Ben Gurion Airport, located about 15 km from the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. They are frames from a video that was most likely created using artificial intelligence (AI) tools. The earliest upload of this video that we were able to find comes from the YouTube channel 3amelyonn, where it was posted on June 12, 2025.
The description of this YouTube channel in Arabic reads “AI resistance”. Videos published on this channel have previously been falsely presented as authentic on social media. Raskrinkavanje wrote about another video from this channel, shared with claims that it showed the destruction of Tel Aviv, in an analysis published on June 24 this year.
The video has therefore been available online since at least June 12, one day before the escalation of the conflict between Iran and Israel. Israel attacked Iran on June 13, after which Iran retaliated. The exchange of missiles lasted several days. A ceasefire was signed on June 24.
During this escalation, Iran claimed it had targeted Ben Gurion Airport (1, 2). However, there are no credible reports that the airport was significantly damaged during these attacks. Air traffic in Israel resumed in full after the ceasefire was signed, further confirming that the airport could not have sustained damage on the scale shown in the video.
The surroundings of this airport were struck in early May 2025 by a rocket fired from Yemen by the Houthis. At that time, several people were lightly injured, however the airport did not suffer major damage. Flights resumed shortly after the attack.
The mentioned video, along with another one created using artificial intelligence and shared from the same social media accounts, was circulating with claims that it showed the destruction of Ben Gurion Airport in other languages as well. These videos were analyzed by multiple fact-checking platforms (1, 2, 3).
According to the facts from this analysis, we rate the earliest post presenting AI-generated footage as scenes of a destroyed Ben Gurion Airport as fake news. Other posts with the same content are rated as spreading fake news.
